Monday, February 24, 2014

I have not heard of this
island before (Manus) nor know anything about - Pacific Solution which is in
news now for wrong reasons.

Before that something on
Cricket – of the U19 Worldcup now on at Dubai.
On Saturday, a ball from Kuldeep Yadav,
the chinaman bowler, pitched outside the off, jumped, turned, beat the bat, and
ended up down the legside – Umpire called it a wide – one felt too harsh for a
great delivery. English batsmen could not read him properly but still India lost the
match, which was sealed in the penultimate over of Hooda, whom Vijay Zol chose
to bowl. India
had earlier won all their group matches; in one of them – India crushed minnows Papua New Guinea by 245 runs.
Opting to bat in their last league match, the defending champions posted
a mammoth 301 for six, before bowling out their hapless opponents for just 56
in 28.2 overs at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium. Defending a big total on what did
not seem like the best of batting surfaces, left-arm spinner Yadav, returned
impressive figures of 4/10 in8.2 overs. Earlier
Afghan caused the biggest upset beating Australia – scoring 253 and
restricting the stronger team to 217.

Papua New Guinea, is a group of islands located in the
southwestern Pacific Ocean. It is one of the most culturally diverse
countries in the world - 848 different languages are listed for the country, of
which 12 have no known living speakers. Though
mining provides impetus to the economy, many people live in extreme poverty. After being ruled by three external powers
since 1884, Papua New Guinea
established its sovereignty in 1975 after Australia ceased to administer it.
It became a separate Commonwealth realm with Queen Elizabeth II reigning as its
Head of State.

The news is about the violence
in an island here that led to the death
of an asylum seeker. Down under, Immigration Minister Scott Morrison says new
information casts doubt on initial reports that 23-year-old Reza Berati died
from injuries he sustained outside the centre. The Federal Opposition has
called for an explanation and says Mr Morrison is not being transparent. More
than 60 other people were injured in the violence, and Australia and Papua New Guinea are both
conducting investigations. Mr Morrison says detainees risk their safety if they
engage in riots, but says that service providers must abide by the law in any
response.

ManusIsland is part of ManusProvince in northern Papua New Guinea and is the largest island of
the Admiralty Islands. Lorengau is the capital
of ManusProvince. ManusIsland
is covered in rugged jungles, and is home to the Emerald green snail, whose
shells are harvested to be sold as jewellery. In addition to its resident population, asylum
seekers have been relocated here from Australia between 2001-2004 and
since 2012.

Aussie Immigration Minister Scott
Morrison says the "majority of the riotous behaviour" that killed an
Iranian man and injured 62 other asylum seekers on ManusIsland
this week happened inside the Australian-run immigration detention centre,
contradicting his earlier claims. Greens
leader has accused Mr Morrison of repeatedly misleading the Australian public
over ManusIsland, and called on Prime Minister
Tony Abbott to sack him from the ministry.
The furore is over the killing whilst in the care of Australian Govt in
a far off place. The activists claim
that the occurrence and its handling is shrouded in secrecy. Secrecy is completely inadequate for democracy
but totally appropriate for tyranny. The events on Manus Island give rise to
many questions the public have a right to know as to what happened?; whether
asylum seekers were beaten to death and why there was contradicting information
flowing from the authorities.

They further want Australia to
accept global responsibilities of accepting refugees. The asylum seekers trying to arrive in boats
are fleeing their own Nation for saving their lives and a multicultural Nation
should accept them.

The Pacific Solution is the
name given to the Australian government policy of transporting asylum seekers
to detention centres on island nations in the Pacific
Ocean, rather than allowing them to land on the Australian
mainland. Implemented during 2001–2007, the Pacific solution strategized islands
away as migration zones; Australian Defence Force commenced Operation Relex to
intercept vessels carrying asylum seekers and they were removed to detention
centres in Nauru and Papua New Guinea
while their refugee status was determined. The policy was largely dismantled in
2008 by the Rudd government but in 2012, the succeeding Gillard Labor
government introduced a similar policy, reopening Nauru
detention centre and ManusIsland detention centre
for offshore processing.